CHICAGO (AP) — Joaquín Guzmán López, a son of notorious drug kingpin “El Chapo,” pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking and other charges Tuesday, days after an astonishing capture in the U.S.
Guzmán López, dressed in an orange jumpsuit, stood with feet shackled as federal prosecutors in Chicago detailed a five-count indictment that also includes money laundering, conspiracy and weapons charges. He declined a Spanish interpreter and answered most of U.S. District Judge Sharon Coleman's questions designed to assess his health and determine whether he understood the proceedings with a simple, “Yes, your honor.”
Guzmán López and Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, a longtime leader of Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel were arrested by U.S. authorities in the El Paso, Texas-area last week, according to the Justice Department. Both men, who face multiple charges in the U.S., oversaw the trafficking of “tens of thousands of pounds of drugs into the United States, along with related violence,” according to the FBI.
Zambada has eluded U.S. authorities for years. He was thought to be more involved in day-to-day operations of the cartel than his better-known and flashier boss, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán, who was sentenced to life in prison in the U.S. in 2019 and is the father of Guzmán López, 38.
In recent years, Guzmán's sons have led a faction of the cartel known as the little Chapos, or “Chapitos,” that has been identified as a main exporter of fentanyl to the U.S. market. Last year, U.S. prosecutors unsealed sprawling indictments against more than two dozen members of the Sinaloa cartel, Guzmán López and his brothers, in a fentanyl-trafficking investigation.
At Tuesday's brief hearing, security was tight, with cellphones, laptops and other electronics barred from the courtroom. Guzmán López remained standing, leaning into the microphone to answer the judge, often with his arms folded behind him.
Guzmán López remained jailed in Chicago and was due back in court on Sept. 30.
Zambada pleaded not guilty last week to various drug trafficking charges and was being held without bond. He's due back in court later this week.
The men's mysterious capture fueled theories about how federal authorities pulled it off and prompted Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to take the unusual step of issuing a public appeal to drug cartels not to fight each other.
Zambada’s attorney, Frank Perez, alleged his client was kidnapped by Guzmán López and brought to the U.S. aboard a private plane that landed near El Paso. Perez pushed back against claims that his client was tricked into flying into the country.
But Guzmán López's attorney Jeffrey Lichtman, who has represented other family members, rejected those ideas without going into specifics.
“There's been massive amount of rumors and things printed in the press. I don't know what's real. I don't know what's not real," he said. "But it shouldn't really surprise anybody that there's a story that seems to be changing every few minutes, which means that much of what's being leaked to the press is inaccurate."
He added that there “is no cooperation with the government and there never has been.”
The U.S. government had offered a reward of up to $15 million for leading to Zambada's capture.
His detention follows arrests of other Sinaloa cartel figures, including one of his sons and another "El Chapo” son, Ovidio Guzmán López, who pleaded not guilty to drug-trafficking charges in Chicago last year. Zambada’s son pleaded guilty in U.S. federal court in San Diego in 2021 to being a leader in the Sinaloa cartel.
Son of drug kingpin 'El Chapo' pleads not guilty to drug trafficking charges in Chicago
Son of drug kingpin 'El Chapo' pleads not guilty to drug trafficking charges in Chicago
This image provided by the U.S. Department of State shows Joaquín Guzmán López. Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, a historic leader of Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, and Joaquín Guzmán López, a son of another infamous cartel leader, were arrested by U.S. authorities in Texas, the U.S. Justice Department said Thursday, July 25, 2024. (U.S. Department of State via AP)
LONDON (AP) — A teen pleaded guilty Monday to charges of killing three girls and wounding 10 other people in a stabbing rampage at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in England last summer.
Axel Rudakubana, 18, pleaded guilty at the start of his trial at Liverpool Crown Court.
He pleaded guilty to three counts of murder, 10 counts of attempted murder and additional charges related to possessing the poison ricin and for having an al-Qaida manual.
The July 29 stabbings led to a week of rioting across parts of England and Northern Ireland after the suspect was falsely identified as an asylum-seeker who had recently arrived in Britain by boat. He was born in Wales.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
LONDON (AP) — It was the first day of summer vacation and the little girls at the Hart Space, a sanctuary hidden behind a row of houses, were there to dance to the music of Taylor Swift.
What was supposed to be a day of joy turned to terror and heartbreak when an intruder with a knife attacked the girls and their teacher on July 29 in the seaside town of Southport in northwest England.
The teen arrested in the aftermath goes on trial Monday on three counts of murder, 10 counts of attempted murder and additional charges related to possessing the poison ricin and for having an al-Qaida manual.
The trial is expected to last four weeks.
Axel Rudakubana, 18, who has refused to speak in court, had pleas of not guilty entered on his behalf at Liverpool Crown Court. He was 17 at the time of the attack.
Prosecutors haven't said what they believe led to the rampage.
The stabbings led to a week of rioting across parts of England and Northern Ireland after Rudakubana — then unnamed — was falsely identified as an asylum-seeker who had recently arrived in Britain by boat.
Violent groups made up mostly of men who were mobilized by far-right activists on social media attacked mosques and hotels housing migrants, tossed beer bottles, rocks and other weapons at police, and set fire to cars as they clashed with officers in dozens of cities.
More than 1,200 people were arrested for the disorder and hundreds have been jailed for up to nine years in prison.
Rudakubana, who was born in Wales to Rwandan immigrants, is charged with murder in the deaths of Alice Dasilva Aguiar, 9, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Bebe King, 6.
Eight other girls, ranging in age from 7 to 13, were wounded, along with instructor Leanne Lucas and Jonathan Hayes, who worked in a business next door and intervened. Fifteen other girls, as young as 5, were at the class but uninjured.
Several months after his arrest on the day of the killings, Rudakubana was charged with additional counts for production of a biological toxin, ricin and possession of information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing to commit an act of terrorism for having the manual in a document on his computer.
Police have said the stabbings haven't been classified as acts of terrorism because the motive isn't yet known.
FILE - Police officers watch members of the public outside the Town Hall in Southport, England, Aug. 5, 2024 after three young girls were killed in a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club the week before. (AP Photo/Darren Staples, File)
FILE - Tributes are seen outside the Town Hall in Southport, England, Aug. 5, 2024 after three young girls were killed in a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club the week before. (AP Photo/Darren Staples, File)